Search results

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani removed Lieutenant General Abdulwahab Al-Saadi as Counter Terrorism Service chief on 1 November.

State-owned Edge Group announced the acquisition of a 52% shareholding in Swiss unmanned helicopter specialist Anavia on 6 November.

While the United States is further building up its naval projection in the region, Chinese PLA Navy’s ships have continued to make port calls around the Gulf.

UAE Air Force (UAEAF) aircraft have started an airlift to Ethiopia, flying C-17 and C-130 cargo planes to the Ethiopian Air Force’s main base at Harar Meda military airport, 40km south-east of Addis Ababa.

The potential for Iran’s 'Axis of Resistance' militia network to destabilise the wider region has been manifest in an alarming acceleration of attacks on bases hosting United States troops in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-backed militias.

The 'Axis of Resistance' bloc of state and non-state actors, Shia and Sunni militias, has been long in the making, as Iran's revolutionary elite has sought to project its influence via a disparate group of organisations ranged across the Middle East. Its components are of differing sizes and capabilities, and their links to Iran also vary.

Governments across the region are trying to ensure the war between Hamas and Israel doesn’t escalate, with potentially disastrous expansion to other fronts. Meanwhile the monarchies and others are trying to assuage the anger many of their citizens feel towards Israel’s actions in Gaza, in a conflict that has profoundly upset recent comfortable assumptions about the regional status quo.

China's People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has used a routine rotation of its ships based in Djibouti to double its presence in the region, just as the United States Navy is preparing to deploy its first aircraft carrier strike group (CSG) to the region for two years.

In a surprise announcement, the Iranian authorities said that the length of mandatory military service had been cut by three months.  Military service will now range from between 14 and 21 months, depending on the location and mission of a conscript.

Eight years after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal was adopted, a wave of restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile programme have automatically fallen away. The US, Europe and others have vowed to keep up the pressure, imposing fresh restrictions on Iran, but the flows of drones and other weapons from Iran to Russia – and perhaps other consumers – seems only likely to increase.

Saudi Arabia is reportedly considering buying up to 54 Rafale jets from France's Dassault Aviation. Dassault has built up a sizeable customer base for its jets in the Gulf: Qatar has taken delivery of 36 Rafales, and the UAE has ordered up to 80 of the fighter bombers. 

The turmoil that has broken out in Israel and Gaza in recent days may lead to a recalibration by Yemen's Houthis of what they should put on their list of demands and how much pressure they can exert on Saudi Arabia in any further rounds of talks. It might also concentrate minds in Riyadh about the need to secure a viable settlement in Yemen, so that the land beyond its southern border is not a long-term harbour of potential danger.

An analysis of Hamas' lightning invasion points as much to Israeli weaknesses as to the Palestinian group's abilities. Hamas clearly knew its enemy well and was well set up to exploit Israeli weaknesses, both before battle was joined and as it developed.

Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (Nedaja) commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani has said Tehran is planning to establish a permanent presence in Antarctica which will have both military and scientific components.

The UAE is facing further accusations it is using a field hospital in north-east Chad as a cover for supplying arms to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Lieutenant General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (often known as Hemedti), as well as to treat the militia group’s injured fighters.